by David Duguid MP  

THE UK is the torch-bearer for those seeking practical steps to tackle problems of genuine global significance, not least action against climate change.

This November will see Glasgow host the eagerly anticipated joint UK and Italy COP26 UN climate change conference. This is the first time a COP summit has convened in the UK, and the 12-day event will be one of the largest ever to be hosted in Scotland.

The stakes could not be higher as we bid to prevent the catastrophic warming of our planet that drives extreme weather – droughts and associated fires; inundating downpours and lethal floods; storms of terrifying ferocity and increasing frequency – which wreaks global havoc.

Yet in this crucial gathering of world leaders lie the seeds of hope and practical solutions as meaningful, achievable, progress towards net-zero on an accelerated timetable is at the very heart of COP26 – and at the heart of our global economic recovery.

The UK Government is not waiting for the conference to begin to take steps to address matters. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already set out his 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution.

It is bold, it is ambitious – but it is also deliverable, outlining real-world steps to bring us closer to our commitment to deliver net zero emissions by 2050. We were the first major economy to make that pledge. It was hugely encouraging for those of us who grasp that we today are mere custodians of this precious planet to see movement from the likes of China, Japan and Korea, who declared commitments of their own. The 10-point plan is not only designed to deliver our progressive environmental agenda, it is also a blueprint for creating jobs and building back greener from the pandemic. It utilises £12 billion of Government investment to prime the pumps for three times as much private sector investment by 2030. It has the potential to support 250,000 highly skilled British jobs over the next 10 years, as the UK economy pivots towards affordable clean energy and greener transport, utilising innovative technologies that can transform our environment.

Scotland is at the forefront of the plan, not least with offshore wind, where the objective is to quadruple electricity production to 40GW by 2030. To set that in perspective, that’s enough electricity to power every home in the UK. Impressive, of course, but that’s not all. In the process the intention is that this drive will support up to 60,000 new green jobs.

Jet Zero will aid the aviation industry’s efforts to decarbonise while technology can also make our maritime sector greener. £20 million has been earmarked for a competition to develop clean sea-going technology, with feasibility studies on key sites such as Orkney and Teeside. We are making strides towards that all-important net zero goal, whilst creating a cleaner, more sustainable future for our businesses and people.

We are shaking up public transport with a drive towards increasing take-up of electric vehicles for private use, a consultation about the phasing out of diesel HGVs, exploring the use of hydrogen as a sustainable and cleaner fuel for power-generation, and an enhanced role for small-scale nuclear power.

Energy efficient technology can make our homes, hospitals and public spaces warmer as well as greener and create 50,000 jobs. We want to install 600,000 heat pumps, weaning us off fossil-fuel boilers, each year by 2028. We are exploring too how hydrogen might have a role as a domestic fuel.

We also intend to make the UK a front-runner in green finance and to expand our carbon-capture expertise to the extent that we strip out 10 megatonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030.

We are ideally placed to deliver. Our oil and gas sector has a huge part to play as we move along this roadmap to a cleaner and greener future. They have a proven track record of creating cutting-edge technology and deploying it successfully. Support for energy transition will help make sure that their expertise will push the creation of low carbon energy solutions while maintaining energy security.

That transition has begun with the announcement at the virtual Climate Ambition Summit – a milestone precursor to COP26 – late last year that the UK Government intends to end its support for UK companies’ fossil fuel projects overseas.

It is important that we carry the oil and gas sector with us on this journey. Deirdre Michie, CEO of Oil and Gas UK, representative body for the UK offshore oil and gas industry, has said: “The UK is taking a global leading role in how to tackle emissions at home and we recognise we should do the same aboard. We are also in advanced discussion with the Government on a North Sea Transition Deal that can provide a model for how the industry can transform in a fair way which creates jobs, boosts the economy and delivers the essential policy goal of net-zero emissions.”

Alok Sharma’s role the UK’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, puts him in the best position as President of COP26. His words about the Glasgow conference are deeply prescient: “Whether future generations look back at this time with admiration, or despair, depends entirely on our ability to seize this moment.”

The UK Government has already taken the initiative and now we look forward to standing in Glasgow, shoulder-to-shoulder with friends from around the world, as we strive to find solutions to the climate crisis.

David Duguid is a Scotland Office minister and Conservative MP for Banff and Buchan.